This excerpt from Gerald O’Collins, S.J. in Light From Light summarizes the Biblical teaching on Jesus as the light, the star of all stars. May the light of Christ shine upon you this Advent season.
- Pastor Duane
Created by God, light not only symbolizes God but is also an image of divine salvation and deliverance. Where darkness symbolizes illness, death and the forces of evil, light symbolizes life, health and the presence of God.
The biblical expression “seeing the light” amounts to “being alive.” We can unpack the expression “the light of life” as “the light which is life and the source of life” (Ecclesiastes 11:7; Psalm 49:19; Job 3:20). When divine light shines on human beings, they experience “liveliness” and happiness. That is the sense of “in/by your light we see light” (Psalm 36:9). When the psalmist prays “show us the light of your face” (Psalm 4:6), he is asking for the grace to see/experience happiness.
“The commandment of the LORD,” the psalmist knows, “is pure and gives light to the eyes” (Psalm 19:8). The longest psalm celebrates “Your word is lamp to my feet, a light on my path” (Psalm 119:105). This is a light that brings and even embodies order and salvation. The righteous experience God’s light as their saving guide: “the LORD is my light and my salvation” (Psalm 27:1). The king knows how the Lord is his “lamp,” the God who “lights up my darkness” (Psalm 18:28).
When Jesus was born, “the glory of the Lord shone” around the shepherds (Luke 2:9). On the occasion of the Christ Child being presented in the Temple, old Simeon said: “my eyes have seen the salvation you have prepared in the presence of all nations: a light that will bring revelation to the Gentiles and glory to your people Israel (Luke 2:30-32).
Finally, the Book of Revelation opens with a vision of the exalted Christ among seven lamp stands of gold, his eyes flaming like fire and his faec shining “like the sun at full strength” (Revelation 1:13-16). The book finishes with a vision of the New Jerusalem, a city that does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, “for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb” (Revelation 22:23). Then the glorious Jesus himself speaks: “I am the bright star of dawn” (Revelation 22:16).
